"Meltzer is claiming you guys signed an agreement with Showtime that states Zuffa/UFC cannot have (specifically mentioned) Ronda, Luke or Gil on your roster as long as Showtime promotes MMA, even beyond their contract period w/Strikeforce). He also said that even if Strikeforce folds, those 3 still cannot come to the UFC (but they can go to Belator or another competitor- just never UFC as long as Showtime promotes MMA). Is this true?"

DW's response:

"idk wtf melzers problem is! Has this guy lost his mind? That is absolutely not true!"

I said as long as Zuffa and Showtime have a deal, they can't fight on a UFC show unless Showtime gives the okay. It's in the Zuffa/Showtime contract. (Ed. note: actually, he said "as long as Showtime broadcasts MMA." but that's unimportant)

...

I was told by one of the fighters who got it straight from Stephen Espinosa that certain guys are Showtime fighters as long as the Zuffa/Showtime contract is in effect. The fighter was a main guy on a list agreed to be Showtime and Zuffa when the new deal went down and the agreement was all fighters on the list are Showtime fighters as long as they are under contract to Zuffa and as long as Showtime airs Strikeforce.

Zuffa and Showtime can sign a new contract that changes the stips between Zuffa and Showtime now or when this deal expires, but he was told he can't transfer to UFC as long as the current deal is in place and could not fight on a UFC card unless Showtime gives the okay.

The fighter was told by Espinosa that in specifics because they insisted on the deal after what happened with Dan Henderson where his Strikeforce contract expired and they signed him to a new deal but brought him to UFC at a time when nobody knew the future of Strikeforce. This stip was insisted on by Showtime so something like that couldn't happen with their however many exclusive stars.

But in the article titled as UPDATED it still says:

Meltzer continued:

"He [Gilbert Melendez] couldn't go to UFC. He could go to Bellator if he wanted to, but he couldn't go to the UFC.

...

There's a list of guys, not everyone on Showtime is on the list, but Ronda Rousey is on the list, Gilbert Melendez is on the list, Luke Rockhold is on the list...

It's for as long as Showtime broadcasts MMA."

That doesn't mean as long as Showtime broadcasts Strikeforce, but rather as long as Showtime broadcasts any MMA from the way Meltzer explained it."

SF needs to go. All i've heard from the last card is how there was very little promotion, nobody knows about it etc. That means SF is failing as a promoter, and there is no future growth possible. If you're an up and comer, why on gods green earth would you sign with SF knowing you can never fight the best if you become the SF champion? Melendez is stuck, he should be fighting for the UFC title and everyone knows it. Fuckin BS.

JOESONDO - Zuffa could have signed something like this to appease Showtime during contract talks knowing if Zuffa closed shop on Strikeforce that the clause would not hold up in court.

Themanders1 -

Steve4192 -

Haole - If Strikeforce was dissolved or their contract with Showtime expired & they attempted to block a fighter from fighting for zuffa that would never stand up in court

^ This

It almost sounds like Zuffa signed a non-compete clause in regards to those particular fighters, but non-compete clauses cannot be indefinite. If the clause doesn't have a concrete endpoint, the liklihood of it holding up to a legal challenge is pretty damn slim.

This is correct. without a concrete endpoint there is no way a contract clause like this holds up in court. Its seems like a way of keeping top level sf talent from requesting ufc deals after big wins

Zuffa signed an agreement not to sign the fighters. The fighters are free to go as they pleases but the UFC won't be an option. I'm not sure there is a court anywhere that wills force the UFC to sign these guys. As long as zuffa and show time are on good terms I don't see them challenging the agreement.

Haole - anyway, this is an overall good thing if it gets Zuffa to invest more in SF promotion & bring in some UFC names, SF needs some title level fighters, bad

Who is Nate gonna defend against?

Well, zuffa WW is a cluster fuck, send someone over

Strikeforce is dead. Come to terms with it. The UFC isn't going to support them. And they'll find a way out of Showtime's slave-contracts. Do you think Zuffa didn't see this coming when they signed the contract? They'll SF, or Showtime with dump SF, everything will fold and the contract will be void.